Current:Home > NewsCIA Director William Burns to travel to Cairo for further hostage talks-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
CIA Director William Burns to travel to Cairo for further hostage talks
View Date:2024-12-23 18:54:20
CIA Director William Burns is expected to travel to Cairo next Tuesday for further hostage talks after a new set of terms was delivered by Hamas days ago to the Qatari government, multiple sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will also attend.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly dismissed Hamas' latest counterproposal as "delusional" in a fiery press conference on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken later said the response included some nonstarters but also offered "space" for an eventual agreement.
Burns, whom the Biden administration has tapped to lead U.S. efforts on hostage talks, met late last month in Paris with Sheikh Mohammed, as well as with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and David Barnea, the head of Israel's Mossad, to hammer out a proposal involving the release of the roughly 130 hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for lengthier pauses in fighting. Officials from Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, also attended that meeting.
It was not immediately clear whether all the same participants will reconvene in Cairo. The CIA declined to comment on Burns' travel.
It will be the fifth round of talks for Burns, who also took part in negotiations with the Mossad chief and the Qatari prime minister in Poland in December, and twice traveled to Doha, Qatar, in November, when the first and only agreement was struck.
That agreement resulted in the release of more than 100 hostages, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and a seven-day pause in fighting.
In its latest counter-offer, Hamas outlined a phased release of different categories of hostages in exchange for 45-day pauses in fighting and an eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The group also demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, as well as new influxes of aid and commitments to rebuild Gaza.
The text of the counterproposal was given to the Qatari government roughly an hour before Blinken met on Tuesday with Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who relayed its contents to the American delegation. At a joint press conference Tuesday, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called the response "generally positive."
Speaking in Washington, President Biden later called it "a little over the top," without elaborating.
- In:
- Qatar
- Hamas
- Israel
veryGood! (29)
Related
- The boy was found in a ditch in Wisconsin in 1959. He was identified 65 years later.
- Taylor Swift’s Game Day Beanie Featured a Sweet Shoutout to Boyfriend Travis Kelce
- Near-final results confirm populist victory in Serbia while the opposition claims fraud
- Want to be greener this holiday season? Try composting
- Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin to kick off fundraising effort for Ohio women’s suffrage monument
- A 4-year-old went fishing on Lake Michigan and found an 152-year-old shipwreck
- New details emerge about Alex Batty, U.K. teen found in France after vanishing 6 years ago: I want to come home
- Is Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Ready for Monogamy? He Says…
- Wendi McLendon-Covey talks NBC sitcom 'St. Denis Medical' and hospital humor
- People are leaving some neighborhoods because of floods, a new study finds
Ranking
- Brittany Cartwright Defends Hooking Up With Jax Taylor's Friend Amid Their Divorce
- James Cook leads dominant rushing attack as Bills trample Cowboys 31-10
- Shopping for the Holidays Is Expensive—Who Said That? Porsha Williams Shares Her Affordable Style Guide
- November 2023 in photos: USA TODAY's most memorable images
- Kentucky governor says investigators will determine what caused deadly Louisville factory explosion
- Greek parliament passes government’s 2024 budget
- Behind the ‘Maestro’ biopic are a raft of theater stars supporting the story of Leonard Bernstein
- 'Ladies of the '80s' reunites scandalous 'Dallas' lovers Linda Gray and Christopher Atkins
Recommendation
-
Surfer Bethany Hamilton Makes Masked Singer Debut After 3-Year-Old Nephew’s Tragic Death
-
Why are there so many college football bowl games? How the postseason's grown since 1902
-
'Downright inhumane': Maui victims plea for aid after fires charred homes, lives, history
-
2024 NFL draft first-round order: Carolina Panthers' win tightens race for top pick
-
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Red Velvet, Please
-
Why are there so many college football bowl games? How the postseason's grown since 1902
-
Nobody went to see the Panthers-Falcons game despite ridiculously cheap tickets
-
Man killed, woman injured by shark or crocodile at Pacific coast resort in Mexico, officials say